There is no sadness in this ending, Desmond thinks. It mildly annoys him, because there should be at least some sadness in it, shouldn't there? It's not like they'll never see each other again, but they won't see each other as often. It will be like it was before, after they killed Juno (not so successfully) the first time. Occasional visits, popping in and out of one another's minds. But it won't be the same. There won't be the same intoxicating feeling of working together and saving the world…

"Hey," Elise calls. She has to almost shout to be heard in the general din. Everyone is talking, laughing even- here and there, a few more serious conversations mar the general atmosphere, but those are important too. The whole crowd is doing their best to steer clear of Edward and Ade, closeted in the corner and talking in low voices. Desmond doesn't think he's ever seen Edward look that serious.

The room quiets a bit to look over at Elise; she's standing with her hands on her hips, looking around at all of them. "Can somebody take us home now?" she asks, gesturing to herself and Arno. "I think we have some business of a… private nature to discuss."

"We do?" he asks. She answers by smiling and reaching for his hand- then she leans down and kisses him softly on the top of the head.

"Yes," she says. "We definitely do."

He looks immediately at Ezio, who happens to be the closest person with an apple. "Yes," he says quickly. "Time to go home."

"Alright," Ezio laughs. He stands and gives Arno a quick hug, which he returns warmly. "It was nice working with you."

"You too."

"I'd like to go back too," Shay says. "Can you-"

"I'll do it," Altair volunteers. "It'll be quicker than having Ezio make two stops."

"Will you be coming as well?" Shay asks. He keeps his voice as polite possible, turning to Adewale. "You're coming from the same general time as me, so if you want to go home now's your chance."

"I might as well," Adewale agrees. "It was… interesting, to work with you all. I wouldn't mind the chance to do it again."

"Are you sure you want to go back to your time?" Haytham asks Shay. "Those weren't the best years."

He nods tiredly. "But you remember me being there, so I have to be there. Besides, there's still things I have to do, right? I need to stay in my time for a couple of decades until I can show up and help Connor with the Wolf."

The animal in question is lying with his head in Connor's lap, and half opens one eye long enough to glare at Shay. Connor smirks and scratches it behind the ears until it goes back to sleep.

"And then eventually…" he looks over at Arno, who is staring at Elise with a kind of happy fascination reserved only for those people that are truly in love. He looks up when he catches everyone staring at him, and frowns at Shay. "Listen," he says. "I will never be happy that you killed my father. But if you hadn't done that, I wouldn't be here now with all of you. So… please stop being sorry about it. I forgive you already, alright?"

"Alright," Shay says softly. And he smiles a little as he says it, as if he finally believes it.

And then, after only a few minutes' more spent on goodbyes, they are gone. Ezio and Altair return quickly, but by then they've pretty much decided that the next group to go home will be heading to the homestead. It's a large crowd this time- Connor, Ziio, Haytham, Edward, Mary, and the Wolf.

"Do you need any help taking them back?" Altair asks as Desmond starts gathering the whole crowd together to take them home.

"I'm fine," Desmond insists. And he is. He can do this.

"Hang on," Ezio laughs. "Can we just take a second to appreciate this?"

"What?" Connor looks up at him, and Desmond watches his eyebrows draw together as he tries to figure out why Ezio is laughing.

"Just look at them," Ezio says, and Altair gives a little snort of laughter as he sees it as well.

Desmond smiles, even as Connor's confused expression gets more expressive. He sees it as well, the similarity between the three Kenways that has never really been there before. At first glance they are as different as night and day- Edward, smiling and blonde and almost glowing; Connor, dark skinned and typically scowling; Haytham, somewhere in between the two extremes.

But Edward and Haytham, like Ezio, have been changed after their time spent without bodies. They have both come back younger, far closer to Connor's age. This seems to exaggerate the similarities between the three Kenways, the angles of the face and the stubborn expression when facing a difficult problem, the stance and the determination and the eyes. Especially in the eyes.

"Never mind," Altair says quickly, as Edward looks like he's about to insist he be told what's going on.

"But-"

"Let's just get you home."

He gestures to Desmond, who stands at once and adds his power to his ancestor's. They wrap the whole group up in warm, golden light and carry them away, across the centuries, back to the homestead. They stay maybe fifteen minutes, just enough to say a final round of goodbyes and make sure everyone has made it in one piece, and then turn to go. Haytham stops them, grabbing Desmond by the elbow and pulling him back. He looks back and Altair stops as well, raising one eyebrow.

"What's the matter?" Desmond asks.

"Nothing." Haytham glances over his shoulder, checking to make sure that no one else is in earshot. They're not, having all gone in already. "I just wanted to say thank you. For giving me a chance to know my son, and to see my father again. For showing me times and places I would never have had a chance to see otherwise. For everything."

"Why thank me?" Desmond asks. "I only did as much as everyone else."

"Yes, well." He smiles, crookedly. "You were the first person besides myself in my head."

"Then… you're welcome, I suppose."

Haytham steps back, letting go of Desmond's arm and nodding. "Goodbye, then," he says.

"Only for now," Altair says. "Not forever."

They leave the homestead, only to find Ezio arguing with Malik when they return to the twenty first century.

"-else am I supposed to go?" Ezio asks, and Malik scoffs in a manner that implies Ezio is an absolute idiot and unworthy of his time. It's an expression he normally reserves exclusively for Altair.

Malik draws in a breath to answer, then sees Altair and Desmond have returned. "Tell them," he says. "He can't do it."

"Do what?" Altair asks.

"I'm going to stay here," Ezio says, before Malik can answer for him. "I can't go home, I'm already dead. I've lived in this century before, I know how it works. Besides, I like it as much as any other."

"But it's not his time," Malik insists.

Altair sighs, shaking his head with mock disapproval. "Ezio never follows the rules," he explains. "We can't do a thing about it."

"Oh," Malik said, visibly choosing to give up. "So he's a lot like you."

"They have that in common," Desmond agrees. "Anyway-" he looks between Malik and Altair, and then to Maria on the other side of the room. "I guess if Ezio's staying here, that just leaves the three of you."

Altair looks like he wants to argue about staying longer, but Malik nods at Desmond before he can say anything. "Yes," he says. "We're going home." And still, Altair almost argues. Even without being in his head, Desmond can almost trace the thread of what he wants to say. But then he looks over at Maria, who is smiling sadly at him. She doesn't say a word, just looks, and Altair caves like a house of cards.

"Okay."

"See you," Desmond says.

"Soon," Altair insists.

"As if you could get rid of me if you wanted to," Desmond laughs.

There is time only for a few more hasty goodbyes before Malik starts making impatient noises, and urging them on. Altair finally gives up, and takes the three of them home.

And then there are only five people left in the room. Desmond, Rebecca, Shaun, William, and Ezio. For a few minutes, they look at one another without saying much of anything. It's a little bit like the atmosphere just after a party, when all the guests have gone and there's nothing left to do but vacuum potato chip crumbs off the couch and scrub beer off the carpet.

Ezio breaks the silence first. His smile is sincere and his voice is bright. "So," he says. "What happens next?"

"Well-" William looks at him, uncertain for half a moment before he seems to shrug and decide to just go for it. "Back to business as usual. There are still templars in the world, and they're still trying their best to wipe us out. Are you… alright with that?"

"Why shouldn't I be?"

"Well- I just mean, with… Haytham. And Shay."

"That's different, dad," Desmond interrupts. "They're different."

"Yea," Ezio agrees. "They're not trying to kill us all, so that's a plus."

And William actually laughs, the last thing Desmond would have expected.

Rebecca's computer pings softly from a corner, and she crosses quickly to it. "Message from another cell," she tells the rest of the room. "In Australia- they've intercepted some templar emails and they think they're going to be targeted soon. They're asking for backup."

"There you go, then," Desmond says. He glances over at Ezio. "Let's get going."

"No rest for the wicked," Rebecca teases.

"Excuse me," Ezio laughs. "No rest for the awesome."

And he walks to the door, head held high. Desmond follows after him with a wide smile on his face and without speaking a single word. There doesn't seem to be anything to add to what Ezio's already said.

-/-

And... end. Please keep reading for actual IMPORTANT information if you want to know what's coming next for this series.

1) I have already answered this question a few times in PMs, so here it is out in public. I am hoping to write more in this series when Syndicate comes out, but that will depend a lot on how the game goes. And also on you guys! I won't bother if there's not much interest in six-ish months when the game's out

2) The next story in this series will be a side fic (probably shorter than this one) will come out sometime after Chronicles: India and Chronicles: Russia comes out. It will cover some of the side characters, including Adewale, Aveline, Shao Jun, and a few other surprises. ;)

3) I will also probably be making a timeline for this universe, because time travel is confusing, just for my own benefit. If there's an interest from you guys, I'll probably put it online somewhere too.

4) Big, huge, enormous thank you to everyone that's reviewed, alert'd, fav'd, or just read this story. You are beautiful people, and this story wouldn't exist without all of you. Thanks for sticking with me all the way to the end.